Edmund Prideaux (died 1659) of Forde Abbey, Thorncombe, Devon, [1] was an English lawyer and Member of Parliament, who supported the Parliamentary cause during the Civil War. He was briefly solicitor-general but chose to resign rather than participate in the regicide of King Charles I. Afterwards, he was attorney-general, a position he held until he died. During the Civil War and for most of the First Commonwealth he ran the postal service for Parliament.
Prideaux was born at Netherton House in the parish of Farway, near Honiton, Devon, and was the second son of Sir Edmund Prideaux, 1st Baronet (d.1629), of Netherton, an eminent lawyer of the Inner Temple and member of an ancient family which originated at Prideaux Castle in Cornwall, by his second wife, Catherine Edgcumbe, daughter of Piers Edgcumbe of Mount Edgcumbe in Devon (now in Cornwall). [2]
Prideaux was first educated at Truro Grammar School, [3] graduated M.A. at Cambridge, and on 6 July 1625 was admitted ad eundem at Oxford. [4] On 23 November 1623 he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple and subsequently practiced law chiefly in chancery. He was appointed to the honourable posts of Recorder of Exeter, and later in 1649 Recorder of Bristol. [5]
Prideaux was elected to the Long Parliament for Lyme Regis in Dorset (which seat he held till his death), and forthwith took the side of the Parliamentarians against King Charles I. In 1642 his subscription for the defence of parliament was £100. [6] By his own side he was regarded as one of the persons best informed as to the state of feeling in the West of England. [2]
For three years, from 10 November 1643 until it was transferred to the custody of the speakers of the two houses, Prideaux was one of the commissioners in charge of the Great Seal of Parliament, an office worth £1,500 per annum, and as a mark of respect, by order of the House of Commons, he was called within the bar with precedence next after the solicitor-general. [7] Prideaux was one of the Parliamentary commissioners appointed to negotiate with the king's commissioners at the Treaty of Uxbridge in January 1645. [2] Edward Hyde in his History of the Rebellion would accuse Prideaux, along with Henry Vane and Oliver Saint-John, of being spies for a party within Parliament that had no intention of allowing any sort of compromise in the furtherance of a treaty. [8]
On 12 October 1648 he was appointed by parliament as Solicitor General for England and Wales. [9] He resigned the office when the king's trial became imminent and John Cook was solicitor-general on that occasion and subsequently. [10] Prideaux did not however lose favour with his party. On 9 April 1649 he was appointed attorney-general, and remained in that office for the rest of his life. [7]
For many years Prideaux was intimately and profitably connected with the postal service. The question of the validity of patents for the conduct of posts was raised in both houses of Parliament in connection with the 1640 sequestration [11] of the office of Thomas Witherings, granted in 1633. Prideaux served as chairman of the committee appointed in 1642 to enquire into the rates of inland letters. [12] In 1644 he was appointed, by resolution of both houses, "Master of the Posts, Messengers, and Couriers"; [13] and he continued at intervals, as directed by the House of Commons or otherwise, to manage the postal service. In 1644 he was ordered to arrange a post to Hull, York, and Lyme Regis, and in 1649 to Chester, Holyhead, and Ireland, and also to Bideford in Devon; likewise in 1650 to Kendal, and in 1651 to Carlisle. By 1649 he is said to have established a regular weekly service throughout the kingdom. [7]
Rumour assigned to Prideaux's post office an annual income of £15,000. Blackstone states that his reforms saved the country £5,000 per annum [14] and certainly it was so profitable as to excite rivalry. Prideaux soon met with competition and Oxenbridge, Thomson, and others, encouraged by the House of Lords judgement on 9 July 1646 in the case of Earl of Warwick v. Witherings, which declared as void the clause in Witherings's patent for restraint of carrying letters, endeavoured to carry on a cheap and speedy post of their own. Prideaux met them by a variety of devices, some in the way of ordinary competition, but others in the shape of abuses of power and breaches of the law. [15] In 1650 the Common Council of London endeavoured itself to organise the carriage of letters, whereupon Prideaux brought the matter before Parliament, which on 21 March 1650 referred the question to the Council of State, which on the same day ordered that Attorney-General Prideaux should take care of the business of the inland post, and be accountable for the profits quarterly, and ordered the appointment of a committee to confer with him as to the management of the post. [7]
After various claims had been considered, on 21 March 1652 Parliament resolved that the office of postmaster ought to be at the sole disposal of the House of Commons, and the Irish and the Scotch committee, to which the question was referred, reported in favour of letting contracts for the carriage of letters. Prideaux contended that the office of postmaster and the carrying of letters were two distinct things, and that the 1652 resolution of Parliament referred to the former only; but eventually all previous grants were held to be set aside by that resolution, and in 1653 contracts were let for the inland and foreign mails to John Manley. [16] [17]
The loss of the office of postmaster and the carrying of letters affected Prideaux little. His legal practice continued to be large and lucrative, being worth £5,000 a year. He purchased Forde Abbey in the parish of Thorncombe, then in Devonshire, [7] now in Dorset, where he built a large mansion house. On 31 May 1658 he was made a baronet by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, for "his voluntary offer for the mainteyning of thirty foot-souldiers in his highnes army in Ireland". [18] [19]
Prideaux married twice:
Prideaux died on 19 August 1659, [21] at the age of 57, leaving a great fortune, and was buried in the Chapel at Forde Abbey. [22] [23] His estate and baronetcy were inherited by his only surviving son and heir Edmund Prideaux, MP for Taunton, but in 1660 the baronetcy passed into oblivion at the Restoration and unlike some others was not renewed. [19]
According to Hamilton (1893) [24] Prideaux "appears to have been a sound chancery lawyer and highly esteemed by his party as a man of religion as well as learning". [7]
The arms of Prideaux are blazoned Argent, a chevron sable in chief a label of three points gules. [25]
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Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe, of Mount Edgcumbe in Cornwall, was an English Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1701 until 1742 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Edgcumbe. He is memorialised by Edgecombe County, North Carolina.
Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for George Edgcumbe, 3rd Baron Edgcumbe. This branch of the Edgcumbe family descends from Sir Piers Edgcumbe of Cotehele in Cornwall, who acquired an estate near Plymouth through marriage in the early 16th century, which was later re-named "Mount Edgcumbe". His descendant Richard Edgcumbe was a prominent politician and served as Paymaster-General of Ireland and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1742, he was created Baron Edgcumbe, of Mount Edgcumbe in the County of Devon, in the Peerage of Great Britain. Richard Edgcumbe was succeeded by his eldest son, the second Baron. He represented Plympton Erle, Lostwithiel and Penrhyn in the House of Commons and served as Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall. On his death, the title passed to his younger brother, the third Baron. He was an Admiral of the Blue and also held political office as Treasurer of the Household and as Captain of the Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners. In 1781, he was created Viscount Mount Edgcumbe and Valletort and in 1789 he was further honoured when he was made Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. Both titles are in the Peerage of Great Britain.
William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, GCVO, PC, DL, styled Viscount Valletort between 1839 and 1861, was a British courtier, Conservative politician, and Volunteer officer.
Prideaux Place is a grade I listed Elizabethan country house in the parish of Padstow, Cornwall, England. It has been the home of the Prideaux family for over 400 years. The house was built in 1592 by Sir Nicholas Prideaux (1550–1627), a distinguished lawyer, and was enlarged and modified by successive generations, most notably by his great-great-grandson Edmund Prideaux (1693–1745) and by the latter's grandson Rev. Charles Prideaux-Brune (1760–1833). The present building, containing 81 rooms, combines the traditional E-shape of Elizabethan architecture with the 18th-century exuberance of Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill Gothic.
Sir Henry Rosewell (1590–1656) of Forde Abbey, Devon, was a puritan and supporter of the New World colonies.
Great Cornish Families: A History of the People and Their Houses is a book by Crispin Gill, published in 1995. A second edition was published in 2011 (ISBN 978-0-85704-083-1). Crispin Gill, at the time of the book's publication, lived in Plymouth and was assistant editor of the Western Morning News. The book names many notable families that have featured prominently in Cornwall's history.
Forde Abbey is a privately owned former Cistercian monastery in Dorset, England, with a postal address in Chard, Somerset. The house and gardens are run as a tourist attraction while the 1,600-acre (650 ha) estate is farmed to provide additional revenue. Forde Abbey is a Grade I listed building.
The Prideaux Baronetcy, of Netherton in the County of Devon, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 17 July 1622 for Edmund Prideaux. The third Baronet sat as member of parliament for Liskeard and St Mawes. The fourth Baronet was member of parliament for Tregony. The title became extinct on the death of the ninth Baronet in 1875.
Sir Richard Edgcumbe of Cotehele in the parish of Calstock in Cornwall, was an English courtier and Member of Parliament.
Francis Gwyn PC, of Llansannor Court, was a Welsh Tory politician who sat in the English and British Houses of Commons at various times between 1673 and 1727.
Edmund Prideaux (1634–1702) was a member of Parliament for the constituency of Taunton. He took part in Monmouth's rebellion, and bribed Judge Jeffreys heavily to save his life.
Sir Edmund Prideaux, 1st Baronet (1554–1628), of Netherton in the parish of Farway, Devon, was a Councellor at Law and Double Reader of the Inner Temple and was created a baronet on 17 July 1622. He purchased the estate of Netherton where in 1607 he built a new mansion house, known today as Netherton Hall, a grade II listed building. He was one of John Prince's Worthies of Devon.
Sir William Drake, 4th Baronet (1658–1716), of Mount Drake, and Ashe House, Musbury, Devon, was an English Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1690 to 1715.
The Feudal barony of Cardinham is one of the three feudal baronies in Cornwall which existed during the medieval era. Its caput was at Cardinham Castle, Cornwall. The Barony was held in recent times by the Vivian family, the last being Nicholas Vivian, 6th Baron Vivian. Brigadier Nicholas Crespigny Laurence Vivian, 6th Baron Vivian, conveyed the title to John Anthony Vincent of Edifici Maxim's, Carrer General, Arsinal, Principat Andora, in 1995. Mr. Vincent was a member of the Manorial Society of Great Britain and died in Douglas, Isle of Man, on 31 March 2018. The Barony was then conveyed after the probate of his estate to an American citizen on 25 May 2019.
Netherton in the parish of Farway in Devon is an historic estate situated about 3 1/2 miles south-east of Honiton. The present mansion house known as Netherton Hall was built in 1607 in the Jacobean style, restored and rebuilt 1836-44, and is a Grade II listed building.
Soldon in the parish of Holsworthy Hamlets, Devon, England, is a historic estate, a seat of the Prideaux family. The manor house is a grade II listed building dating from the mid-16th century with later alterations. It was sold in 2014 as an eight bedroomed house with an acre and a half of grounds for an asking price of £750,000.
Orcheton is an historic estate in the parish of Modbury in Devon. The present house, known as Great Orcheton Farm is situated 1+1⁄2 miles south-west of Modbury Church.
Sir Thomas Pridias lord of the manor of Newham in the parishes of Kenwyn and Kea, immediately south of the parish of Truro, in Cornwall, was a Member of Parliament for Cornwall in 1298.
The Devon and Cornwall Bank was a bank which operated in the Westcountry of England between 1832 and 1906, when it was taken-over by Lloyds Bank.
Sir Edmund Prideaux, 4th Baronet (1647–1720), of Netherton, Farway was a British lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1713 to 1720.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Hamilton, John Andrew (1893). "Prideaux, Edmond". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 350, 351. cites as sources: | International | |
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